Luke 23:18-20

23:18 But they all shouted out together, ¹  “Take this man ²  away! Release Barabbas for us!” 23:19 (This ³  was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection ⁴  started in the city, and for murder.) ⁵  23:20 Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted ⁶  to release Jesus.

John 18:40

18:40 Then they shouted back, ⁷  “Not this man, ⁸  but Barabbas!” ⁹  (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. ¹⁰ ) ¹¹ 

John 19:15-16

19:15 Then they ¹²  shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! ¹³  Crucify ¹⁴  him!” Pilate asked, ¹⁵  “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!” 19:16 Then Pilate ¹⁶  handed him over ¹⁷  to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus,

Acts 3:14-15

3:14 But you rejected ¹⁸  the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. 3:15 You killed ¹⁹  the Originator ²⁰  of life, whom God raised ²¹  from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! ²² 

[23:18]  ¹ tn Grk “together, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated here.

[23:18]  ² tn Grk “this one.” The reference to Jesus as “this man” is pejorative in this context.

[23:19]  ³ tn Grk “who” (a continuation of the previous sentence).

[23:19]  ⁴ sn Ironically, what Jesus was alleged to have done, started an insurrection, this man really did.

[23:19]  ⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[23:20]  ⁶ sn The account pictures a battle of wills – the people versus Pilate. Pilate is consistently portrayed in Luke’s account as wanting to release Jesus because he believed him to be innocent.

[18:40]  ⁷ tn Or “they shouted again,” or “they shouted in turn.” On the difficulty of translating πάλιν (palin) see BDAG 753 s.v. 5. It is simplest in the context of John’s Gospel to understand the phrase to mean “they shouted back” as a reply to Pilate’s question.

[18:40]  ⁸ tn Grk “this one.”

[18:40]  ⁹ sn The name Barabbas in Aramaic means “son of abba,” that is, “son of the father,” and presumably the man in question had another name (it may also have been Jesus, according to the textual variant in Matt 27:16, although this is uncertain). For the author this name held ironic significance: The crowd was asking for the release of a man called Barabbas, “son of the father,” while Jesus, who was truly the Son of the Father, was condemned to die instead.

[18:40]  ¹⁰ tn Or “robber.” It is possible that Barabbas was merely a robber or highwayman, but more likely, given the use of the term ληστής (lhsth") in Josephus and other early sources, that he was a guerrilla warrior or revolutionary leader. See both R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:857) and K. H. Rengstorf (TDNT 4:258) for more information. The word λῃστής was used a number of times by Josephus (J. W. 2.13.2-3 [2.253-254]) to describe the revolutionaries or guerrilla fighters who, from mixed motives of nationalism and greed, kept the rural districts of Judea in constant turmoil.

[18:40]  ¹¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:15]  ¹² tn Grk “Then these.”

[19:15]  ¹³ tn The words “with him” (twice) are not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[19:15]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Pilate said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because it is clear in English who Pilate is addressing.

[19:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Then he”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:16]  ¹⁷ tn Or “delivered him over.”

[3:14]  ¹⁸ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “You put to death.”

[3:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “Founder,” “founding Leader.”

[3:15]  ²¹ sn Whom God raised. God is the main actor here, as he testifies to Jesus and vindicates him.

[3:15]  ²² tn Grk “whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the words “to this fact” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.